81 FR 33246 - Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged (Migrant Education Program)

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 101 (May 25, 2016)

Under section 1308(b)(2)(B) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act (Pub. L. 107-110) (ESEA, as amended), the Secretary is required to provide notice and seek public comment on the addition of any new proposed Minimum Data Elements (MDEs) for the Migrant Education Program (MEP). The Secretary proposes to add four new MDEs, and solicits public comments accordingly.

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 101 (Wednesday, May 25, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33246-33247]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2016-12251]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket Id ED-2016-OESE-0060]


Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged (Migrant 
Education Program)

AGENCY: Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Department of 
Education.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Under section 1308(b)(2)(B) of the Elementary and Secondary 
Education Act of 1965, as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act (Pub. 
L. 107-110) (ESEA, as amended), the Secretary is required to provide 
notice and seek public comment on the addition of any new proposed 
Minimum Data Elements (MDEs) for the Migrant Education Program (MEP). 
The Secretary proposes to add four new MDEs, and solicits public 
comments accordingly.

DATES: We must receive your comments on or before June 9, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments through the Federal eRulemaking Portal 
or via postal mail, commercial delivery, or hand delivery. We will not 
accept comments submitted by fax or by email or those submitted after 
the comment period. To ensure that we do not receive duplicate copies, 
please submit your comments only once. In addition, please include the 
Docket ID at the top of your comments.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov to 
submit your comments electronically. Information on using 
Regulations.gov, including instructions for accessing agency documents, 
submitting comments, and viewing the docket, is available on the site 
under ``Help.''
     Postal Mail, Commercial Delivery, or Hand Delivery: If you 
mail or deliver your comments about the proposed MDEs, address them to 
Patricia Meyertholen, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue 
SW., Room 3E315, Washington, DC 20202-6135. Telephone: (202) 260-1394.

    Privacy Note:  The U.S. Department of Education's (Department's) 
policy is to make all comments received from members of the public 
available for public viewing in their entirety on the Federal 
eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov. Therefore, commenters 
should be careful to include in their comments only information that 
they wish to make publicly available.


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Patricia Meyertholen, Office of 
Elementary and Secondary Education, U.S. Department of Education, 400 
Maryland Avenue SW., Room 3E315, Washington, DC 20202-6132. Telephone: 
(202) 260-1394 or by email: [email protected].
    If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf or a text 
telephone, call the Federal Relay Service, toll free, at 1-800-877-
8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under section 1308(b)(1) of the ESEA, as 
amended, the Secretary is required to assist States in the electronic 
transfer of student records. The Secretary assists States with this 
transfer through the Migrant Student Information Exchange (MSIX) 
system, which links State migratory student databases to support 
records transfer. Under section 1308(b)(2)(A) of the ESEA, as amended, 
the Secretary is further required to determine the health and education 
information that States must exchange regarding migratory students. 
MSIX supports the exchange of this information in the form of required 
MDEs.
    When the Secretary proposes to add new MDEs, section 1308(b)(2)(B) 
of the ESEA, as amended, requires the Secretary to consult with States 
and publish a notice in the Federal Register seeking public comment on 
proposed new MDEs. The Department has previously sought public input on 
the collection of 72 MDEs (78 FR 79222, Dec. 27, 2013), and in this 
notice now proposes to add four new MDEs:
    Residency Verification Date; Graduation/High School Equivalency 
(HSE) Indicator; Graduation/HSE Date; and Algebra I Flag.
    We have already held multiple consultations with States regarding 
the addition of these four MDEs, and no State official or staff 
expressed opposition during these various consultations. First, we 
vetted the MDEs with the MSIX State User Group for Analysis and 
Recommendations over the course of several years, from 2012 through the 
present. Second, on October 1, 2012, and November 5, 2014, the 
Department conducted webinars with the MEP Coordination Workgroup, 
which is comprised of MEP State Directors from the nine MEP regions 
throughout the Nation. The MEP Coordination Workgroup supported the 
addition of the four MDEs and corresponding definitions. Third, we 
presented these MDEs to all of the MEP State Directors on February 11, 
2014, during the Annual Directors' Meeting in Washington, DC. The MEP 
State Directors did not express any opposition to the addition of these 
MDEs since States already collect this information, in some form or 
another, in their migrant-specific databases. Finally, we have worked 
with 22 States on an MSIX Data Quality Initiative (DQI). Through the 
DQI process, we discussed the need for and use of these new MDEs in 
greater detail with MEP State Directors and their staff in these 22 
States. Once again, no State official or staff expressed opposition to 
the addition of these four new MDEs.
    Overall, MEP State Directors agreed that the inclusion of the first 
three MDEs--Residency Verification Date, and Graduation/HSE Indicator 
and Date--would support MSIX's ability to provide a more consistent 
accounting of children eligible to receive MEP services. Our 
conversations with State officials and staff indicate that the States 
collect these data in their migrant-specific databases to assist in 
determining eligibility for the MEP. The addition of these three MDEs 
would allow MSIX, like the State migratory student-specific databases, 
to more accurately determine who is eligible for the MEP, which in turn 
would improve the accuracy of information in MSIX reports related to 
enrollment, placement, and credit accrual that States use on a daily 
basis. These three new MDEs would also enable MSIX to account for 
eligible migratory children not enrolled in school and for migratory 
children who have graduated or obtained their high school equivalency 
diplomas.
    The fourth proposed MSIX MDE would allow schools to better target 
math courses for newly arrived migratory students by taking course 
information that States already collect and highlighting it in MSIX. 
Inclusion of this MDE would promote better education for migratory 
students.
    The Department now seeks additional public comment on the following 
four proposed MDEs:
     Residency Verification Date: This element would reflect 
the month, day, and year in which a school or MEP project confirms a 
migratory student's residency. States or local operating agencies 
(LOAs) currently collect this information once during the September 1-
August 31 performance period to verify student eligibility for MEP

[[Page 33247]]

services. Including this information in MSIX would help State grantees 
quickly verify a student's eligibility to receive services under the 
program.
     Graduation/HSE Indicator and Graduation/HSE Date: These 
two elements would indicate whether a student has graduated from high 
school or received an HSE diploma, and the date when that event 
occurred. Grantees use the MSIX system to determine proper enrollment, 
placement, and credit accrual for migratory students. Including this 
information in MSIX would help ensure that LOA and local educational 
agency staff have timely and accurate information about whether and 
when a migratory student has graduated from high school or received an 
HSE diploma, thereby allowing much faster determinations about who may 
continue to receive MEP educational services because they have not 
graduated or received an HSE diploma, and who may not receive these 
services because they already have done so.
     Algebra I Flag: This element would reflect whether the 
student has received full credit in Algebra I or an equivalent 
mathematics course. As reported in National Migrant Education Secondary 
Credit Accrual Workshops and Focus Groups throughout the years, many 
States use different course names to reference this mathematics course, 
and completing the material is essential for both enrollment in higher-
level mathematics courses and high school graduation. The Algebra I 
flag would quickly communicate whether a student has obtained credit 
for this gatekeeper course, which would enable counselors and other 
school staff to more quickly enroll and place migratory students in the 
appropriate mathematics course.
    Accessible Format: Individuals with disabilities may obtain this 
notice in an accessible format (e.g., braille, large print, audiotape, 
or compact disc) on request to the contact person listed under FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
    Electronic Access to this Document: The official version of this 
document is the document published in the Federal Register. Free 
Internet access to the official edition of the Federal Register and the 
Code of Federal Regulations is available via the Federal Digital System 
at: www.thefederalregister.org/fdsys. At this site you can view this document, as well 
as all other documents of this Department published in the Federal 
Register, in text or Portable Document Format (PDF). To use PDF you 
must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at the site.
    You may also access documents of the Department published in the 
Federal Register by using the article search feature at: 
www.federalregister.gov. Specifically, through the advanced search 
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by the Department.

    Dated: May 19, 2016.
Ann Whalen,
Senior Advisor to the Secretary Delegated the Duties of Assistant 
Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education.
[FR Doc. 2016-12251 Filed 5-24-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4000-01-P